Relative Truth
by ncfan
Summary: -Byakuya, Yoruichi- "In future, you should take better care of the ones you love."


**Characters**: Byakuya, Yoruichi, mentions of Hisana and Rukia**  
Summary**: "In future, you should take better care of the ones you love."**  
Pairings**: alluded to ByaHisa  
**Warnings/Spoilers**: Spoilers for Soul Society arc**  
Timeline**: Soul Society arc**  
Author's Note**: Three guesses as to the identity of the unnamed person Yoruichi mentions towards the end.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Bleach.

* * *

"You know, when I first heard of her, I figured you had gotten married and had a kid or something. Funny. I never pegged you as the sort to settle down so quickly, Byakuya."

Resting up in the hospital, Byakuya had already figured himself to be in enough pain without that highly familiar, highly grating voice intruding on what little quiet time and solitude he's been able to glean between Renji's visits, Ichigo dropping in at all hours to annoy him and the healers of the Fourth Division coming to give him medication or change his bandages. And frankly, Yoruichi was the _last_ person he wanted to speak to.

Especially on the matter she seems intent on bringing up.

Yoruichi is perching easily in the open window, her gold eyes open wide and keen, fixed intently on his face—long association with her has taught Byakuya to fear that expression intensely. Her long legs swing a little bit before Yoruichi settles into a secure position. She seems to be waiting for him to speak, but there's no trace of the lighthearted mischief she displayed a century ago when he was still a child. There's still mischief, yes, but it's less lighthearted, more biting. And all of it flies out of her face now.

"Hello, Yoruichi," Byakuya manages stiffly after a moment, refusing to look at her. Instead, he stares at the wall opposite from his bed.

Yoruichi takes this as encouragement to go on (which makes Byakuya immediately regret having even acknowledged her at all), voice still slightly probing and expression too piercing by half for Byakuya's liking. "So, imagine my surprise when I discover that Rukia isn't your daughter, but rather your sister. Your _adopted_ sister," she remarks pointedly.

Finally, Byakuya makes eye contact with her, and the expression on his face is one that would make brave men cringe.

However, Yoruichi is braver than most, and she has never been remotely intimidated by Byakuya's anger. Most likely because she can remember what he looked like in swaddling clothes. She meets his gaze evenly, her face perfectly serious, even a little grave. Odd, for her.

Their gazes lock for a moment and it is Yoruichi who speaks first, again veiling her questions with sentences. "So I can see you did get married after all. Good for you," Yoruichi adds as a side note, nodding with the brief flicker of a smile flashing over her face before disappearing again. "And after your wife died, you adopted her sister, who looks enough like her to be a twin, out of Rukongai."

Byakuya breathes in deeply, nostrils flaring. "I assume you'll be coming to a point soon, Yoruichi?"

The were-cat's eyes narrow noticeably. "You don't really know how to act like a brother, do you Byakuya?" Yoruichi asks softly.

His cold, stony expression tells Yoruichi exactly what Byakuya thinks of _that_ inquiry. "Would you care to elaborate, Yoruichi?" Byakuya asks again, barely managing not to snarl. Few have been able to arouse his anger the way she can; it seems a century without Yoruichi has not been able to cure him of that.

Yoruichi shrugs with the sort of languid grace that has always come naturally to her, and the look in her eyes when she fixes him, inescapably, again in his gaze, is utterly devoid of anything resembling humor. "I honestly figured that you would put up more of a fight to the execution of a girl you had taken in as your sister. Especially a girl your late wife begged you to protect." The question is needling and pointed, a bit like someone trying to tickle him across the ribs with a sword.

"I was at the time under the impression that Rukia was a convicted criminal." No one's voice could be as stiff as Byakuya's as he attempts to defend himself, none more tightly containing the cold rage that such questioning provokes. "There was nothing for me to do but follow the rule of law. I made a vow—"

"Yes, yes, I know." Yoruichi waves a hand through the air. "Trust me, Byakuya, I heard." Her voice, formerly so full of scorn, lowers, tone utterly blunt. "But tell me: what vow is more important? A vow you made to people already dead, who can't hear you and whose memories can not force you to obey? Or the vow you made to someone who was still alive at the time; moreover, your loving wife, who _begged_ you to take care of the sister she felt so guilty for abandoning? Who did you betray? Who, Byakuya?"

That is the question he has wrestled with for days now. Byakuya would like nothing better than to shout, make it clear just how conflicted he was. Does she think this was easy? Does she _honestly_ think that this was easy for him?

Hisana's shadow had been hanging over him the whole time, and no matter how Byakuya tried to tell himself that the rule of law had to be followed, he still felt as much a traitor as Yoruichi herself was reputed to be.

Because Hisana had—_has_—a stronger hold over him than his parents ever could.

Then, unexpectedly, Yoruichi's face softens, and her words grow more gentle. "But you know, Byakuya, I think you've already made it pretty clear which promise you've decided to follow. You do care about Rukia," she murmurs, smiling slightly.

Byakuya doesn't answer.

Yoruichi goes on, back to her uncomfortably precise comments. "After all, why would you have thrown yourself in front of Ichimaru's blade, if you hadn't cared for her?"

And Byakuya again doesn't answer, though this time he squeezes his eyes tightly shut, Rukia's sharp, panicked screams again coming to mind.

"Byakuya?" Yoruichi's slid down from the window and come to sit on the edge of the bed, taking care not to sit down on one of Byakuya's legs by mistake. "I've got some advice for you. I think you should listen right now."

Ah… Byakuya had forgotten how much he hates that particular gentle tone. Not patronizing, but something that Byakuya hates even more, especially out of Yoruichi—pity. He can't believe that a century was enough to make him forget how much he hated certain expressions and gestures of Yoruichi's.

"You're not the only one I've ever wanted to say this to, but you'll probably the only one I'll ever get to say it to, not least because at least one of them would bite my head off if I ever tried to tell him what I'm about to tell you—he knows when he's wrong but he does _not_ appreciate having other people pointing it out," Yoruichi remarks with a grimace and a momentary rise of the eyebrows.

"In future, you should take better care of the ones you love," Yoruichi says bluntly, eyes not unsympathetic. "They'll live longer if you do, and you won't have such a hard time looking them in the eye."

Byakuya gapes at her, at an utter loss for words.

Yoruichi promptly departs back out through the windows.

When she's gone, Byakuya, leans back into the pillow, mouth still slightly open and working, though no words pass beyond his lips and he says nothing.

Byakuya's never thought of it quite like that before. He wonders, if maybe he shouldn't have sooner.


End file.
